Valentine's Surprise
by JoeBabyFyrestorm
Summary: Grand Slam decides to surprise his favorite little, oops, petite, weaponsmith.
1. Default Chapter

Spitfyre slides her glasses to the top of her head, sighing in frustration. Why wouldn't that damn piece line up with the rest of them? She'd tooled and retooled until she was almost collapsing with fatigue, but still the marks that she'd made wouldn't line up. She picks up the pieces of the weapon she was working on and hurls them across the room, slumping down on the counter with her head buried in her crossed arms.  
  
Grand Slam and Short Fuze burst in the door after they hear the noise, both thinking that something has happened to their lovable little buddy.  
  
"I should have known not to try to work on something like this during this particular week. I know better. I know what happens. God, I hate Valentine's Day!" Spitfyre berates herself, punching the solid steel door of the cabinet by her stool. Grand Slam comes up behind her and scoops her into his arms, putting her down on the floor on her feet when she protests, squirming and growling at him.  
  
"What?" she snarls at them, obviously not in a good mood.  
  
Both men look at each other, and then reach out, each grabbing one of her arms. They practically pick her up off of the floor, hauling her out of the machine shop and over to the infirmary.  
  
They encounter Lifeline just inside the door. "Lifeline, we need a sedative in the worst way imaginable. Spitfyre's been working for four days straight with no sleep, and it's starting to tell on her," Short Fuze stated. "She's had a hard while of it, what with the sabotage going on, the newbies coming in, and the time of the year it is. She's been working way too hard for way too long."  
  
Lifeline looks at Spitfyre and concludes that the guys are right. There are dark circles under her eyes; and her belt is pulled tighter than she usually wore it. He goes over to one of the cabinets in the triage area and gets a syringe, filling it with a sedative. He comes back over to the group.  
  
Grand Slam asks her, "Is your keys still in your pocket?" She nods and pulls them out, handing them to him. She knows why he wants them, and she goes along with him, knowing that she can't fight all three of them at the same time, especially when they have the backing of the rest of the unit.  
  
After Lifeline injects the sedative into her arm, Grand Slam swings her into his arms and carries her up to her quarters, tucking her into bed. As he does that, Short Fuze goes over to the command center, looking for Hawk. When he finds him, he explains what's going on and what he and Grand Slam have planned.  
  
Hawk calls Steeler in the office at the motor pool, wanting to know if there were any VAMPs that were on the verge of breaking down and could be used as a decoy for a project that he had in mind.  
  
The girls in the office overhear and decide to help them out, offering to go into town and find some appropriate clothing for Spitfyre for the night. They knew that all she had were three pairs of jeans, six t-shirts and one skirt, and the rest of her wardrobe consisted of a couple of uniforms. Grand Slam and Short Fuze take them up on the offer. They decide to pull their little "covert op" on Valentine's Day, two days away.  
  
The next day, Lady Jaye, Scarlett, Jinx, and Cover Girl go into town to find the perfect dress after finding out exactly what Grand Slam had in mind. They had taken a look at Spitfyre's personnel file and found out her clothing sizes. In one of the little boutiques, they find an absolutely darling, daring little dark green dress. The bodice is fitted, but the skirt flares for a bit of a flounce, perfect for the dancing that he wants to do. The color is perfect for Cadie; it'll bring out the red highlights in her hair. They buy it and some accessories and manage to sneak it back onto the base without Spitfyre seeing it. (Not a hard job to do since she's up and in the machine shop again working on that weapon she got frustrated with yesterday.)  
  
Flash goes out to town with the girls and finds the perfect complement to the dress, a deep, reddish sable wrap. It's expensive but he doesn't think about it, buying it for Cadie and planning on sneaking it into her closet before the guys get their plans underway. To him, Cadie is his confidante, but he realizes that she needs something to help her comprehend that she is special to the whole unit.  
  
When the girls go after Grand Slam to give him the package, he sneaks into Cadie's quarters with the help of Cover Girl, and slips the wrap into her closet and is out of there before they can get caught.  
  
The marks lined up for her this time, after about an hour and a half; she spent the rest of the day out at the range, testing it. When she was satisfied with its performance, she called a halt and went in search of food. She went back to her quarters and microwaved a frozen pizza and snacked on it while she thought up new ideas 


	2. Surprise, Surprise

The next morning, Steeler, Short Fuze, and Tollbooth take off into town to get some supplies with the wounded VAMP. Tollbooth went along so that they made sure that they had to call Spitfyre, as she was the only other person on the base at the moment qualified to drive the tow rig. Sure enough, the VAMP breaks down about 35 miles from the base. Steeler calls Hawk to tell him to send Spitfyre out with the tow rig.  
  
Hawk immediately calls Spitfyre into his office and tells her that she needs to go rescue the boys.  
  
"What for? Why not send Tollbooth? He's qualified on the tow rig."  
  
"Because Tollbooth went with them. That's why."  
  
"How convenient. I smell a rat. But, I'll go anyway. Where are they?"  
  
"They're about 35 miles out from the base on the way to town. They're in one of the VAMPs, and whatever happened to it, the parts will need to be ordered according to Steeler and Tollbooth."  
  
"Aw, Christ! Just the way I like to spend my days. I'll bet they knew that that particular VAMP was about to break down and yet took it anyway."  
  
Hawk turns away from her so that she can't see the smile playing around his lips. "Go get 'em tigress," he mutters under his breath.  
  
She leaves Hawk's office and goes over to the motor pool where she fires up the tow rig, making sure she has the equipment that they'll need. As soon as she leaves the base, Grand Slam, Hawk, Flint, Thunder, and Snake Eyes go to work.  
  
They slip into her rooms with the key that Grand Slam never gave back yet, and proceed to romanticize it. They place candles, flowers, and incense all over the place. Flint slips into the little kitchenette and slides a couple of bottles of wine into her little fridge. Snake Eyes looks her stereo over and figures out how it works, changing the CD's in it. Grand Slam takes the package that the girls dropped off at his quarters for him on the bed and unwraps it. He lays out the dress, accessories and undergarments neatly on the foot of the bed. He then scribbled out a note of instructions and tacked it to the door. When the rest of the guys leave, he settles in to read a little. Flash sneaks back and adds a note on the bottom of the note.  
  
When Spitfyre gets to the VAMP, it seems to be abandoned. She just goes to work, loading it onto the trailer of the tow rig and securing it. As soon as she gets that done, the guys appear. They'd walked down to the little truck stop down the road a bit and gotten something to eat. They ask her to take them on into town and help them with their errands. It's a bit cramped with four people in the cab, but they manage, somehow. They stop by the florist's and pick up a few dozen roses, stopping by Tollbooth's house on the way back to drop a couple of them off there for his wife.  
  
They finally begin to make the trip back to the base. When the gate guard sees them coming, he calls Grand Slam's cell phone.  
  
"They're on their way in. She doesn't look too happy, though. Good luck. She's caked with dust and sweat from what I can see."  
  
"Thanks for the head's up. I'll start the bath now, because this is the first place she's going to head when she gets that VAMP unloaded. Short Fuze'll make sure of it." Grand Slam replied and hung up. He lit the candles and incense and started the stereo playing, making sure that there was a glass of wine on the counter waiting for her. He then strolled into the bathroom and started a hot bath running for the team's petite weaponsmith. He sprinkles some powder into it and then tosses a handful of rose petals in.  
  
As he hears the footsteps out in the hall and hears the voices, pegging them as Short Fuse and Spitfyre, he fades into the shadows behind the bathtub.  
  
He hears Spitfyre's soft "What the---?" and knows that she has found his note. He had already heard Short Fuze scampering down the hall, away from the trouble when and if it started.  
  
The note she found on her door stuns Spitfyre. What had been done? How badly did they mess up her personal space? She turns the knob and steps into her quarters. It's like she steps into another world. Candles, flowers, and what's that scent? Could it be? Yes, it is! Her favorite scent, jasmine incense.  
  
According to the note, there is a glass of wine waiting on the counter for her. She goes over and finds it. She sips it slowly and follows the next line on the note, following instructions and goes into the bathroom. She doesn't see Grand Slam lurking in the shadows in the corner. She disrobes and steps into the bathtub, sighing as the heat begins to ease her tired, sore muscles. She isn't really paying attention to her surroundings, and misses Grand Slam getting up from where he was sitting and coming over to the side of the tub with a pitcher of water, pouring it over her hair and reaching for the shampoo/conditioner, massaging it into her scalp and beginning to wash the dust and sweat from her hair.  
  
As his hands run through her long, dark auburn hair, she closes her eyes and lets him do what he will. She does something that she very rarely does- she relaxes.  
  
He struggles to keep his hands to himself and his mind strictly on the task that he's laid before himself. He finishes rinsing her hair, and wraps it in a towel. He closes his eyes and turns his head as he holds up another towel, one that he's kept warm, sitting on it, just for this purpose, and wraps it around her when she gets out of the tub, pulling her close to him and kissing her softly, surprising the heck out of her and himself in the process. He hadn't expected the spark.  
  
While she gets dressed and ready to go out, he heads over to his quarters to get ready. As soon as he finishes getting prepared, he goes back over to her quarters. In his hand, he has a single red rose, knowing that that was one of her childhood dreams. She had told him about it one night when a bunch of them had gone out drinking, and she and Sci-fi had gotten into a drinking contest somehow. Believe it or not, she had actually come within two sips of winning. Much closer than any of the rest of them had. She was a special little girl.  
  
He'd known from the time that she joined the team that she was special, although it was just beginning to dawn on him why she was so special, at least to him. 


	3. Come to Dinner with Me

He smiled and shook his head in chagrin at himself as he walked down the hall to her door. He'd done the unspeakable. He'd fallen for her. He was totally in love with her.  
  
He wasn't sure how she would take it if he told her, and for the time being, he decides to keep it to himself. Not that it would do much good, as half the base probably knew already. Short Fuze, Steeler, Flint, Falcon, Duke, Hawk and even Snake Eyes were already teasing him about his being "pussy-whipped" by the pint-sized beauty of a weaponsmith.  
  
As she opens the door after his knock, he realizes something that he hadn't before. No matter how she managed to hide it, the petite weaponsmith was one totally gorgeous, stunning, one hundred percent woman. She was wearing the outfit that he had laid out for her and had added a few touches of her own. She wore very little make-up and her hair was styled into one of those classic, timeless updos. Never before had he seen her wear a pair of high-heeled shoes, like she was now. Stiletto heels, no less.  
  
And the wrap that she wore around her shoulders was the perfect counterpart to the outfit. He didn't know that she had anything that expensive in her wardrobe.  
  
He was flabbergasted! What miracle had happened to give him access to this exquisite beauty? What gods liked him enough to grant him his favorite dream?  
  
When she giggled, he realized that he was standing there with his mouth wide open. Like a little boy who had just entered his fantasyland. He shut his mouth with a snap and handed her the rose with a flourish. He wondered just why her eyes filled with tears as she took it and put it into a vase that she had just washed out on the counter.  
  
"Tonight, little lady, it's just James Barney and Cadence Tolliver- no Grand Slam and Spitfyre. Just James and Cadie. It's all pleasure and no business tonight."  
  
"Whatever you say," she says, suspicious.  
  
He looks down at his watch and offers her his arm as he notices what time it is. When they get downstairs to his truck, he picks her up and gently sets her down in the passenger seat. She buckles herself in as he strides around to the driver's side and swings himself in. He glances over at her as he buckles himself in and shifts gears, pulling out. He secretly keeps glancing over at her the whole time he is driving into town. She stares out the window at the scenery, wondering what is going on and why she is out and about on Valentine's Day. She doesn't understand why Grand Slam would do something like this. She wasn't good enough for him to take notice of her and do something like this for her.  
  
They go out to a small café that he had found on one of his weekend passes. As they are seated, she begins to notice some little details about him that she hadn't noticed before.  
  
For one thing, he was a lot more nervous now, than even when they'd first met. The clothes he was wearing were totally different from what she normally saw him wearing. His shirt was a dark midnight blue, and it brought out the dark sapphire of his eyes; the slacks he was wearing were dark. They were so dark that they looked almost black. With his long black trenchcoat, he looked like a dark sorcerer come to claim his mate. It hit her all of a sudden. The man was as handsome and sweetly romantic as she had ever dreamed that her prince charming would have been. Could he be the man of her childhood dreams? The one she knew she'd never find, but remembered just the same.  
  
She allows him to order for her, because he'd been here before, but she hadn't. It turns out that he was friendly with the owner, and it helped him out sometimes. He ordered the Italian Combo for the both of them, and a bottle of wine that she knew was quite expensive. How did she rate such treatment, she wondered.  
  
They were seated in a dim corner of the dining room, away from most of the noise and bustle. It was quiet where they were.  
  
"Cadence, I have a major confession to make," he told her, looking at the table, after pouring a glass of the wine that he'd ordered.  
  
She looks at him quizzically. "What? About the wounded VAMP being a excuse to get me off base?"  
  
"You knew?"  
  
"I figured it out after Eric ditched me just before we got to my door. It was the only explanation that would fit why both Steeler and Tollbooth went, when it would have been easier for just one of them to go. Not to mention less crowded in the cab of the tow rig."  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
"Don't be. I'm not mad. I can't believe that you guys went to all this trouble for little old me. You shouldn't have."  
  
"We had to, little one. No one else has ever done anything like this for you, and I wanted to do something special for you for Valentines Day. You deserve to have something special done for you every now and then. Cadie, please don't get mad at me for what I'm about to say."  
  
He gets extremely shy, swallowing hard, and before he can say anything, the waiter brings their orders. They eat in companionable silence, and when they are finished, he gets her wrap and holds it for her and offers her his arm as they leave for their next destination.  
  
"What were you going to say, James," she asks him, shyly.  
  
"I'll tell you later, Widget." 


	4. I want you to be my Girl

He takes them to a building where they were holding a Valentines Dance. Cadie's jaw drops as she realizes what he was up to as he came around the truck to open her door. He chuckles as he sees her face.  
  
"That's why the girls went out and got you this dress and everything. I told them that I wanted to take you dining and dancing, and they took the initiative and went shopping."  
  
"Um, James, I'm not sure if you know this yet, but I've never danced before."  
  
"That's okay, Widget, There's a first time for everything. Besides, tonight's a first for me too. I've never taken a woman out dancing before."  
  
She looks at him in disbelief. "You've never taken a girl out? As good looking as you are? Man, the females are stupid if they can't see what a great catch you are."  
  
"Well," he said, rubbing the back of his neck with a sheepish expression on his face, "There were the school dances, and the requisite dates to go with them, but no, Cadie, I've never taken someone out that I really cared for. Boy, if my brother John could see me now, he'd tease me for doing the one thing I said would never happen."  
  
"Haven't you learned never say never? It'll happen sooner or later."  
  
"I knew that when I told him that. It was more a case of not being able to find the perfect girl. I always wanted my dates to be beautiful, charming, and intelligent. I didn't really care about how popular they were. How was I to know that I wouldn't find miss perfect until you came into my life?"  
  
"How old were you?" she asks softly.  
  
"I was twelve, and I hated girls at the time."  
  
Cadie smiled as she imagined him at that age, telling his brother that there was no way he'd get involved with girls again.  
  
"What happened?"  
  
"She dated me just to get close to my best friend. She wanted him, and the only way to get close to him was to go out with me. That's happened more often than not, and that's one reason why I'm hesitant to get into a relationship with anybody, why I tend to stay to myself. Kinda like you, in a way."  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
"Don't be. It's in the past." He leads her into the dimly lit building and into the ballroom. When they hear the next song begin, he leads her out onto the dance floor and starts swaying with her to the slow melody. His large hands easily span her tiny waist and one of her hands is on his hip and the other is on his shoulder.  
  
"What I was going to say at dinner, my real confession, Cadie, is that somewhere along the lines, little Widget, I've fallen in love with you. You probably didn't know because I've never been able to show my feelings openly, and that's because I was taught that at an early age by my father. It has nothing at all to do with you. Whenever I see you exhausted like you were the other day, sick or wounded, I just want to get to you and protect you from the demons that I know are causing the insomnia, the illness or the pain. I simply want to hold you and keep you safe from harm. It's hard for me, because I know that you are the type of person who fights your battles by yourself."  
  
"James, I didn't know you cared so much. I had no idea! The only reason that I fight my battles by myself is because I've never had anyone to help me fight them before. I don't know how to do it any other way. To tell the truth, I wouldn't know love if it walked up and slapped me in the face and knocked me down. My mother made damn sure of that."  
  
Looking at the pain that she unintentionally showed in her eyes, he knew he couldn't stop himself, didn't even want to even try, and bent his head. He slowly took possession of her lips with his in a very soft kiss. Cadie opens her mouth under his and he deepens the kiss.  
  
When they finally break from the kiss, he doesn't look away from her eyes. She looks at him with wonderment showing.  
  
"I...I never knew that a kiss could be so incredible." She sighs. "It's just that I'm no good at it, I guess," she whispers.  
  
"Probably because you weren't being kissed by the right person, Widget. I intend on making sure you get lots of practice over time," he explained. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small black velvet pouch. He opens it and pours out a long silver chain with a silver teardrop shaped charm. The inside of the teardrop is filled with a blue-green swirl of stone.  
  
He unhooks the chain and ever so slowly slides it around her neck, clasping it.  
  
"This chain represents friendship, Widget, or whatever you want it to mean. The charm is a symbol of just how much pain that you've gone through to get to where you are now. This part," he says, tracing the upper part of the charm with his finger, "represents the fires of hell that you've been through, and this part represents all the tears you've shed over the years."  
  
"Oh, James, it's beautiful. You shouldn't have."  
  
"Actually, there's another meaning behind it," he mumbles, embarrassed.  
  
"What is it," she asks, curious. Something clicks in her brain and she realizes something as the inflections of his voice become clear to her. "Uh-oh. You sound as if you had just gotten yourself into deep sludge."  
  
"It's just that... well, it's a tradition on the base, that when a guy gives one of you girls something like this, it means that he's claiming her as his intended life companion. Basically, the guys on the base will think that I've claimed you as my girlfriend."  
  
"What's wrong with that? Unless...you don't want me as your girlfriend?" She turns her head and looks out of the window. It didn't take a rocket scientist to hear the pain in her voice when she spoke. The rejection that she felt was clearly evident in her eyes and in her voice.  
  
He pulls her closer to him, pressing her close against his chest. Then he gently grabbed her chin and turned her head to face his. "Oh Cadie! How could you ever think that? I would love for you to be my girlfriend. I've dreamed about it since you first came to the unit. I mean, if you're sure you wouldn't go off on me for the littlest reasons like you did with Sean."  
  
"James, it wasn't a little reason for me going off on Sean. The day I went totally ballistic was when I found out that he'd been cheating on me...with another man! It hurt enough to know that he didn't care about me enough to cheat on me, but to have to learn the fact that he's bi, on top of that, at the same time. Not to mention the fact that he was sleeping with these guys in MY bed!" She feels the familiar pain welling up inside, and ruthlessly squashes it down. Nothing, but nothing, was going to ruin this magnificent night with this incredible man.  
  
"Cadie, will you be my girlfriend? I want you to be so very much," he asks her tremulously.  
  
"Of course I will, James. I just never thought that any of you guys would ever ask me that."  
  
He senses her unspoken pain and hugs her hard. He bends down and kisses her again, this time with such possession and passion that he bruises her lips, sealing the pact that they had just made. They were now an official couple. The song that the DJ put on next was "Dream On", by The Oak Ridge Boys. It seemed to fit their relationship, so it became their song.  
  
When the dance finally ended at midnight, they walk out to his truck holding hands. When they get there, Cadie stares in dismay. The truck had been broken into and set ablaze! 


	5. the Past Attacks

James tries to get close enough to lean in through the broken window to see if his cell phone was still in there, but it was gone, melted. He curses as he backs away from the truck.  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
"Somebody's broken into the truck."  
  
"I know that, genius. What else is wrong?"  
  
"Stay here with the truck. I need to go inside to find a phone."  
  
"Here." She hands him her cell phone, which she had in her evening bag. When he arches an amused eyebrow, she grins back at him. "It's amazing what you can fit into one of these things, ain't it?"  
  
He shrugs, takes it and calls the police and fire departments, letting them know what had happened. They tell him to stay put, that they'll send somebody out to assess the situation. Someone who was in the parking lot came running up with a fire extinguisher and began to fight the fire that had engulfed the truck. A few more people did the same, and soon they had the fire out.  
  
James looks over at Cadie, who's been extremely quiet all this time, and discovers her shivering. He draws her close to him and tucks her under his shoulder, against his side. He then takes his coat off and wraps it around her shoulders.  
  
"I'm sorry, James."  
  
"Sorry? What for?"  
  
"You should have been told before this. I don't go looking for trouble, but it just sort of finds me no matter what I'm doing or where I am. I guess I'm just a trouble magnet."  
  
"Honey," he says, tenderly, "This has nothing to do with you." He hugs her close to him as the fire department finally arrives, after they manage to douse the flames.  
  
"James, that's not what this note says. I found it lying not far from where we're standing. It has my birth name printed on it in big bold letters. I know that it's my fault that this happened."  
  
He takes the note from her and reads it. It suddenly dawns on him that the reason she was shivering was not from the cold, but from the fear she felt. She was afraid that he'd turn away from her, and that she'd be left defenseless. She was scared that he would reject her, and she'd be forced to deal with the pain alone, as she always had.  
  
He knew that he would never throw her away, as had so many people in her past. The problem was that she didn't know it. He would do anything to keep her next to him at all times. Neither of them had any idea just how much he really loved her.  
  
There was another, deeper meaning to the chain that he had given her earlier that he hadn't told her. It also meant to the rest of the base and those that knew its significance that he would severely injure, if not outright kill, any other person who dared to lay hands on her or to cause her pain in any way, military or civilian. It was the Pit's equivalent of a romantic get out of jail free card. Unfortunately, it only worked on the base. Off base was a whole other critter.  
  
He uses her phone again, this time to call Tollbooth, who lived no more than six blocks from where they were. Apologizing for waking them up, James tells him what has happened. Tollbooth tells him again to stay put, that he'd be there in a few minutes. He added that they could stay at his place if they needed to.  
  
The police arrive and start questioning the couple, who decide to keep the note to themselves for the time being. Tollbooth rushes up a couple of moments later.  
  
"Are you two okay," he asks.  
  
"We're fine, Chuck," James says, the use of his given name telling him that they should keep quiet about their Joe status because of all the civilians milling around. "Take Cadie and get her out of here. It's not safe for her here. She'll explain later."  
  
"Excuse me, sir, but we need to talk to the young lady," a fresh-faced officer tells Tollbooth as they try to leave. Cadie submits to their questioning and tells them exactly what she knows. No, she doesn't know who it could have been, and no, she didn't know if James had any enemies who would do such a thing. And definitely no, she didn't know the reason it was done.  
  
When they finally let them leave, Tollbooth takes Cadie to his house and puts her in a guest room. James had told them that he would meet them later, after he had arranged to do something with the truck.  
  
Tollbooth's wife, Shelby, loaned Cadie a nightshirt and a pair of sweatpants. She goes into the bathroom to change clothes and when she returns, she finds Chuck sitting on the side of the bed. He motions her to sit beside him.  
  
"What wasn't James telling me?"  
  
Cadie hands him the note and lets him read it. "I found this lying on the ground near the truck just after we found it."  
  
"So whoever did this was after you," Tollbooth stated.  
  
"Yes," Cadie whispered, bowing her head in shame.  
  
"It's okay, Cadie, it's not your fault. We don't blame any of this on you," he says as he puts his arm around her shoulders and tries to comfort her.  
  
"If I hadn't been with him, they wouldn't have attacked him. I don't know how they found me, but somehow they did."  
  
"This chain," he says, reaching up and taking hold of the charm, "He's claimed you as his girlfriend, right? I feel sorry for those people who mess with you that don't know the meaning of it. Or just ignore it, for that fact."  
  
"Yes," she nods in answer to his question.  
  
They hear the doorbell ring; Chuck answers it and finds a large, balding man standing on his porch. He has a large caliber handgun pointed at Tollbooth.  
  
"Give me the girl, and nobody gets hurt," he tells him. Tollbooth laughs.  
  
"That's the oldest line in the book. No way would I give you my wife. She's the only 'girl' here." Tollbooth hears a slight noise behind him. He chances a glimpse over his shoulder and sees Cadie heading off his wife before she can come downstairs. When he turns around to look at the man again, he catches a furtive movement in the shadows. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees James sneaking up on the man. He makes sure that he keeps the man's attention securely on him.  
  
James sneaks up behind the man and attacks. Before the man knew what was going on, he was knocked out and tied up. 


	6. Good cop, bad cop

Cadie comes back downstairs after the guys give her the all clear and assuring Shelby that nothing is wrong, that the guys can handle the situation. She stands in the kitchen and makes a pot of coffee for the guys and a cup of tea for herself. She sits at the table as do the rest of them.  
  
"The cop I talked to said that they were taking the truck to the impound yard, because they had nowhere else to put it. It's a total loss," stated James, a little sadly. Cadie reaches over and puts her hand on top of his.  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
He puts his other hand on top of hers. "Don't be. It's not your fault that these people have it in for you. You're not the one responsible for their actions." Chuck and Shelby add their hands to the pile in support of Cadie.  
  
"Do you know him?" Tollbooth asked her, pointing at the man.  
  
"Unfortunately, yes, I do." Cadie revealed. "He's my stepfather."  
  
"Oh God," Shelby sighed. "You poor little thing."  
  
"Nope. Not poor little me. Poor little them. They've declared war, and that gives me free reign to retaliate as I see fit," Cadie says, looking at her stepfather. James and Chuck notice immediately that her eyes have changed to a dark silver-violet color, unlike her usual light silver-green. The change alerted them to the fact that there was going to be a large amount of violence if they didn't get her calmed down and quickly.  
  
James takes her hand and brings it to his mouth, lightly kissing it. Cadie looks over at him and her face softens. She smiles at him. Chuck signals James that they need to talk outside in the other room.  
  
"Why don't we try good cop, bad cop, James? You're the new boyfriend, show them how much you're willing to defend her. How fiercely protective you're feeling right now."  
  
"I like that idea, Chuck. I'll go with the bad cop role, because the way I'm feeling right now, I could really do some damage. Call Chuckles, Hawk, Flint, and Law and get them over here. They could really help the situation."  
  
"Better idea, let's get Cadie to call them. It'll keep her occupied, and away from the inevitable fight. We better, at least, tell her what we're doing."  
  
"That's true."  
  
SMASH!  
  
Shelby screams. Both men rush back into the room, finding Cadie on the floor, rolling and grappling with her stepfather, who is attempting to strangle her. James instantly joins the fray, grabbing the man's shoulders from behind and bodily throwing him back against the wall. Chuck helps Cadie to her feet and he and Shelby take Cadie into the other room, seating her on the couch. Shelby stays with her, helping her breathe and recover from the fight.  
  
Chuck instructs Cadie to call the ones that he and James had discussed earlier, and hands her the phone. Cadie calls the men, stressing the explosive nature and magnitude of the situation. Each one tells her that they'd meet the others and would be there immediately.  
  
Twenty minutes later, the doorbell rings. Since Cadie knows who to beware of, she answers it. When she checks the peephole, she finds Hawk and the rest of the group that she had called on the doorstep. She lets them in. "Damn, twenty minutes. Whoever was driving had to be seriously speeding. They had to be driving like a bat out of hell," she thinks.  
  
They can tell from the sounds that James and Chuck have taken their prisoner to the basement to do their "interrogation". They hear someone run up the stairs and Chuck bursts out of the door, frantic. 


	7. Better Get ahold of your man

"Cadie, you better come get your boyfriend before he does any more serious damage. If I let him get ahold of this guy again, he'll kill him, and we won't get any answers to any of our questions."  
  
Cadie and the rest of the group follow him down the stairs and Cadie immediately takes in the situation at a glance. She makes a lightning quick assessment of what is going on and where everybody is.  
  
She jumps and hits James with a full body tackle, knocking him down and to the side before he could swing another punch to the man's face. They get up and Cadie has to hold him back.  
  
"James! Enough is enough. Any more and you'll kill him," Cadie, straining, tries to hold him back.  
  
He struggles against her restraining arms. In order to stop him, she does the only thing she can do. She grabs him and kisses him, hard. James's arms come around her and crush her to him. He knows what she's doing and keeps an eye open. He deepens the kiss, and blocks the rest of the environment from his mind.  
  
James slips his hand under the borrowed shirt, caressing her skin. She drags his shirt from his waistband and slides her hand underneath, stroking his chest and abs. For all practical intents and purposes, the couple makes out in front of the prisoner and the rest of the gang. The guys groan.  
  
She undoes the buckle of his pants and he swoops her up in his arms. "Baby, it's too crowded down here. Let's go upstairs and finish this."  
  
He carries her upstairs and into the guest room that Chuck and Shelby were letting them use. He tenderly lays her on the bed and kisses her gently on the forehead. He notices the marks on her neck in the lamplight and turns the overhead lights on to get a better look at them. The discolored bruises on her neck were in the shape of the man's fingers. He snarled as he realized this.  
  
"James," Cadie said, softly, "Let it go. You did enough damage to him to more than pay him back for this."  
  
They hear a knock at the door and James gets up and answers it, letting Hawk into the room.  
  
"I need to see the note and I want to know what the hell is this that Tollbooth is telling me about you and a necklace, Spitfyre."  
  
She pulls the chain from under her shirt and shows it to him, answering one of his questions about it. She reaches over and picks up the note from where Tollbooth had left it on the nightstand.  
  
"I put the chain on her, Hawk. I claimed her as my girlfriend earlier, and I'll be damned if I just sit off to the side while somebody tries to kill her. That was my truck they attacked trying to get her. Cadie, what I didn't have the chance to tell you earlier was that there was some writing on the hood. It quite plainly said that you were the target, and called you all kinds of nasty names and things."  
  
She nods her head slowly. "That sounds like something they would do. What exactly did the writing say?"  
  
He sprawls out on the bed and pulls her over in his lap. "Like the note, it said: 'Beware Cadence Tolliver- We will finish what we started years ago. You'll be better off if you face your fate with some kind of dignity and not like the cowering, simpering, little slut bitch that you are. You can't run and you can't hide. We will find you every time, and we will keep killing until you come to us for your death.' The police want me to take you to the station in the morning so that they can find out what is going on and devise a plan as to heading this bloodbath off at the pass. They also found a body inside the truck cab. It's still a John Doe as of now."  
  
Hawk," Cadie asked, fervently, "Can you run downstairs and tell Chuckles to see if he can get a target list from that bastard?"  
  
"No problem. If he can't, I'm going to try." He turns and strides out of the room, rushing down to the basement and relaying Cadie's request. Chuckles got a really demonic look on his face and grinned evilly, cracking his knuckles.  
  
Meanwhile, upstairs, Cadie is fatigued from worry and from all of the energy she had expended during the day. She slumps exhausted in James's arms, falling asleep in seconds. He cradles her small body against his and holds her tightly, closing his eyes and falling asleep also. 


End file.
